Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Wildwood Crest's standout: 16% of its land is conserved. Overall it grades C, 347th of 466 graded towns in New Jersey. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 82% of the country and it is easier to get around on foot or by transit than 94% of U.S. towns. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $591K, 7.2 years of the Atlantic City metro’s $82K median household income. 6.6% of residents are under 18 in Wildwood Crest, below both New Jersey’s towns (21%) and U.S. towns (22%). Only 2 of the 468 New Jersey towns we compare have a higher age of the median resident than Wildwood Crest. Caribbean Motel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Where Wildwood Crest beats most towns.
Coastal flooding makes up 16% of the storm damage FEMA expects here.
61.1% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, so the town is fuller in summer than its census count suggests.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA · OpenStreetMap
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Jersey), ordered by how far Wildwood Crest is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 103 in 1910, a peak of 4,149 in 1980, 3,101 in 2020. The archive holds 17 old photos and papers going back to 1957 and 6 maps from 1888 on.
1 place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Wildwood Crest, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Wildwood Crest.
Wildwood Crest is safe by national standards but not by New Jersey’s and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in New Jersey; it also has a long record of flood insurance claims.
A bachelor’s degree or higher: 46% of adults 25 and older, vs 44% across New Jersey. Since 2020, Wildwood Crest has lost 3.2% of its people, to 3,000 in the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
58% women, 42% men
About 73 men for every 100 women (the survey’s margin: ±5.5 points). Across New Jersey, 50.8% of residents are women.
| Wildwood Crest | NJ | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 0.3% | 11.6% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 6.4% | 10.2% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 3.5% | 8.4% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 8% | 12.9% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 2.8% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 12.7% | 12.9% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 22.1% | 13.5% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 30.1% | 10% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 14.2% | 7.2% | 7% |
| No diploma | 2.1% | 9.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 32.8% | 25.3% | 26% |
| Some college | 11.2% | 15% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.2% | 6.7% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 30.3% | 26.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 15.4% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,000, single groups can be off by several points
Public schools: the Wildwood Crest Borough School District. Its one school is below. The town’s only public school teaches 194 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crest Memorial SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 194 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NJ on state tests
Walkers can cover 1.5 miles of trail in 5 parks and preserves. Wildwood Crest’s density of trails is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Centennial Park | 0.5 mi | 3 |
| 2. Sunrise Park at Rambler Road | 0.2 mi | 4 |
| 3. Sunset Lake Bayfront Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Within New Jersey it is less healthy than 57% of the 468 graded towns: New Jersey sets a high bar.
Wildwood Crest: 15% of adults binge drink. CDC measures, 32 in all: Wildwood Crest beats New Jersey on 13 and trails on 7. Among adults here, 31% sleep under 7 hours and 13% report frequent mental distress.
| Wildwood Crest | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 32% | 33% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 36% | 36% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 15% | 17% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 32% | 35% |
| What stands out | Wildwood Crest | NJ |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5.4% | 9.6% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 7% | 12.3% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 12.4% | 7.5% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The average commute for its 1,049 working residents takes 19.3 minutes, against 30.5 across New Jersey.
The median household income for Wildwood Crest comes to $69,000. Just 10% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. Jobs in Wildwood Crest grew by 70 from 2013 to 2023, reaching 597. Among 468 New Jersey towns, just 3 have a lower typical journey to work than Wildwood Crest.
| Wildwood Crest | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 30 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $69,000 | $113,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 9.5% | 6.3% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 9.6% | 6% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
266 flood insurance claims have been filed here, and 23 properties have flooded more than once.
Wildwood Crest has had 266 paid flood insurance claims since 1979. Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 71% of U.S. communities. FEMA puts 52% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 18% to hurricanes. Also worth knowing: households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 5 declared disasters, most recently in 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons reach 85°, January nights drop to 28° and about 15 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
At 23.8 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 78% of New Jersey’s graded towns.
The violent crime rate in Wildwood Crest is 3.3 per 1,000 residents. The rate of thefts and burglaries here is 9.6 per 1,000 residents.
| Wildwood Crest | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.3 per 1,000 residents | 0.7 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.6 per 1,000 residents | 7.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The median sale price was $713,000 in May 2026. The share of households in Wildwood Crest who own their home: 81%. A quarter of the homes sold in Wildwood Crest went for more than their asking price.
| Wildwood Crest | New Jersey towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $957 a month | $1,780 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 81% | 77% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Wildwood Crest. Close and well known come first.
2 mi Theme parkMorey's Piers
34 mi Stadium & arenaBoardwalk Hall
30 mi LandmarkLucy the Elephant2 mi Theme parkHunt's Pier
35 mi Theme parkSteel Pier9 mi Zoo & aquariumCape May County Park & ZooMorey's Piers: Smallbones, CC0 · Boardwalk Hall: Jack Boucher, Public domain · Lucy the Elephant: User:dtcdthingy 3:30 pm 30th July 2004 (Minolta Dimage X20), Public domain · Steel Pier: Make Lemons, CC BY-SA 2.0
None within 15 miles of Wildwood Crest; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Wildwood Crest residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Jersey.
15.9% of the town is conserved land, across 5 parks and preserves.
Borough in Cape May County, New Jersey, US
Wildwood Crest is a borough in Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The borough, and all of Cape May County, is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, and is part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 3,101, a decrease of 169 (−5.2%) from the 2010 census count of 3,270, which in turn reflected a decline of 710 (−17.8%) from the 3,980 counted in the 2000 census. Wildwood Crest was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 6, 1910, from portions of Lower Township. The area of the borough was first developed by Philip Baker in the 1910s as a southern extension to the …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
3 towns share a border with Wildwood Crest.
| Town | NJ rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood Crest | #347 | C | D | C+ | B | A− |
| Lower Township | #376 | C− | C− | B+ | D | B |
| Wildwood | #456 | D− | C− | — | D− | C− |
| Diamond Beach | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Wildwood reports no FBI crime data of its own. Diamond Beach isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Wildwood Crest with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Wildwood Crest grades C overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #347 of 466 in New Jersey. It grades A− for health, C+ for safety and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $591,000, 3% above the New Jersey typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
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